


Liability

by queermccoy



Series: Spotify Year End 2019 [4]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti)
Genre: Established Relationship, Grocery Shopping, M/M, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-24
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21939727
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queermccoy/pseuds/queermccoy
Summary: “You know, the thing?” Eddie’s voice is high and reedy. “The,” he makes lobster claw motions with his hands, “The thing!”It dawns on Bill that he means the multipurpose reaching tool Richie had gotten them for the holidays last year for their nondenominational winter party. It was a joke, but Eddie uses it all the time and apparently, brings it to the grocery store.Bill goes with Eddie to the grocery store and tries to be a hero.
Relationships: Bill Denbrough/Eddie Kaspbrak
Series: Spotify Year End 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1564588
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	Liability

**Author's Note:**

> For @dicktective who wanted #94 and kaspbrough! This is not anything like what you were hoping for, I’m sure, but it was pretty fun to write. 
> 
> #94 on my Spotify wrapped playlist was Liability by Lorde
> 
> Warning: the author has only ever used the bathroom in a Whole Foods and has never really been inside one.

“I forgot the thing!” Eddie says, stopping in the middle of the street. Bill bumps into his back, surprised by Eddie’s sudden lack of movement. He clutches their reusable bags in one hand and the grocery list organized by department in the other. 

“What thing?” He asks, because he has both things in hand and he doesn’t know what Eddie is talking about. 

Shopping with Eddie is sort of like screaming into a void that sometimes is also a brick wall. He’s inflexible and has anxiety about nutrition and sustainable farming and genetic modification and crowds and handling money and parking lots and allergies and high fructose corn syrup. Grocery shopping can feel like hiking a very steep mountain, with Eddie, and Bill doesn’t understand why he insists on doing it every week if it frustrates him so much. 

Bill loves him, he really, really does, but sometimes he thinks it would be easier on them both if he did the shopping the way he takes care of the trash and hand washes the dishes that can’t go in the machine. Bill doesn’t really understand why he insists. 

“You know, the thing?” Eddie’s voice is high and reedy. “The,” he makes lobster claw motions with his hands, “The thing!”

It dawns on Bill that he means the multipurpose reaching tool Richie had gotten them for the holidays last year for their nondenominational winter party. It was a joke, but Eddie uses it all the time and apparently, brings it to the grocery store. 

“I think we’ll be okay without it,” Bill says, trying to comfort Eddie who is still just standing in the road, blocking three different spots and people driving by are glaring at them. He shifts the items in his hands so one of them is free and lifts it to Eddie’s shoulder. 

Eddie is almost vibrating, but he calms a little under Bill’s hand. “But the shelves here are really high!”

There’s a mental image of Eddie in Bill’s mind now, shopping at this store every week, at the same time, and using the lobster claw to pick up cereal boxes. He can really see it, because Eddie is just… he doesn’t care what people think or how something looks. He does what he thinks he needs to do and doesn’t let anything or anyone stop him. This is why he deals with their internet provider on the phone and isn’t allowed to talk to the cops if they get pulled over.

“It’ll be okay, Eddie, we don’t need it. Let’s just go shopping.” Eddie nods and starts walking again, towards the front door of their local Whole Foods. Bill jogs to catch up and takes Eddie’s hand in his empty one. 

“Okay,” Eddie says once they’re inside. “Where’s the list?” Bill hands him the list and only lets go of his hand to take control of a nearby abandoned cart. Eddie rolls his eyes and slides in next to him, bumping him out of the way and driving the cart himself. 

Eddie has control of the list and the cart and rolls them through the aisles, adding things and then savagely crossing them off the list with a ballpoint he brought from home. Bill walks next to him, answering questions when asked and sometimes adding things to the cart that aren’t on the list. 

Eddie tries to hide his smile when Bill adds a plastic tub of maple cotton candy to the cart next to the fresh vegetables. It definitely isn’t on the list, but Bill knows it’s Eddie’s favorite snack he never lets himself have so in it goes. 

When they get to the dried goods aisles, the shelves are extremely tall, running from floor to ceiling practically and Bill finds himself wondering who actually is tall enough to shop at Whole Foods. Maybe Mike? but definitely not him. 

“Oh wow,” Bill says. He imagines the shelves having a rolling ladder, like old libraries have, to make retrieving items easier. He blinks up and up and up. 

“I fucking told you!” Eddie crows, pushing their cart forward. He points to a box of artisanal cane sugar on the top shelf that’s on his list and raises his eyebrows. Bill rolls his eyes and reaches up for the box. His hands fall three shelves away, not even close to where they need to be. He steps up on his tiptoes, but it doesn’t help. 

Eddie tries, but finds that he can’t reach it either. He sighs and makes to grab a different sugar, but when Bill steps on the first shelf, the one closest to the floor, he pauses. Bill winks at him and climbs up the shelving unit, leveraging himself up. He doesn’t look back down at Eddie until he’s just about high enough up. He turns and winks at him, the box of cane sugar tucked in the crook his one free arm. 

“Bill, what the fuck?” Eddie exclaims, and Bill would be more worried if he wasn’t positive that Eddie had been checking him out. 

Not bothering to really climb down, Bill jumps. The sound Eddie makes in protest is equal parts real fear and extreme irritation. Only Eddie. 

Turns out, he isn’t wrong to worry because when Bill lands, he lands hard on his left ankle, rolling it. He grunts in pain, staggering up from his landing. He drops the box of sugar and lifts his foot from the ground, leaning heavily on the shelves. 

“What did I-“ Eddie shakes his head, lurching forward. He squats down next to Bill’s elevated foot. “What happened?” 

“Nice save,” Bill winces when Eddie rolls up his pant leg and runs his fingers gently over his ankle. “Come on, Eddie, say it. You know you want- Ah!- to!” 

“Shut up!” Eddie applies a little pressure and snatches his hand back when Bill grimaces. “You are a walking insurance liability!” He hisses through clenched teeth. 

Eddie fixes Bill’s pant leg and helps him cross the aisle to the cart. “Get inside,” he tells Bill, motioning to the empty basket.

“I’m not going to fit,” he insists, because doesn’t want to get pushed around the store in the basket like a child. He does fit though. He falls in, graceless and hard, definitely bruising his shoulder and probably one of his knees. Eddie looks smug about it. 

No one says anything while they finish up their shopping, Eddie handing things to Bill to arrange in the basket. He and a child wave at each other in solidarity when they pass carts in the bread aisle. Eddie rolls his eyes but in the way that means he’s fond. 

Bills ankle throbs and it does swell a little, but nothing some ice won’t fix when they get home. He unlaces his shoe to alleviate some of the pressure. Eddie has three different personal injury hot/cold packs and Bill is going to use all three of them at once. 

In the checkout line, the cashier gives them a weird look and under a pile of dried goods and fruits. Bill grins back at them, waving a little. 

“Bill, hand me the-“ and before Eddie can finish, Bill hands him the stack of reusable bags at the bottom of the basket. “Thank you.” 

The bagger looks at Bill in the basket and then at Eddie who is counting out change for the till before giving up and setting the bags in the basket, first around Bill, then on him. Eddie flatout laughs at him when he notices. “Fuck off,” Bill grumbles, but he can’t stop the chuckle that escapes, smiling spreading involuntarily. 

“Come on, Indiana Jones,” Eddie says, piloting the cart out of the store and down the rows of cars until they get to Bill’s ancient Jeep. Eddie hates his car, wrinkling his nose while he unlocks the trunk. 

Bill sits in the basket, wondering how he’s going to get out without falling on his face while Eddie puts the groceries in the Jeep. Every time he tries to move, the cart wobbles and Bill falls back on his ass. 

“This is embarrassing,” Eddie says, and laughs when Bill flips him off. 

“Hold the cart?” Bill asks, and Eddie does, holding the cart steady while Bill climbs out, careful of his ankle. He hobbles into the passenger side of the Jeep and Eddie comes up behind him, having pushed the cart to the nearest return, and groans when he realizes he’s going to have to drive the Jeep. He helps Bill into the passenger seat and takes his keys when Bill holds them out. 

“I love you,” Bill reminds him. 

Eddie kisses him on the mouth. “Love you, too,” he says. “And I was right.” 

“About what?” Bill closes his door about halfway so he can hear Eddie’s reply. 

“About the thing. We did need the thing.” He says, smug, and pushes Bill’s door closed. 

Bill stares at the roof of the car for a moment, smiling, because he is so in love with this fastidious little bastard.

**Author's Note:**

> [Find me](https://queermccoy.carrd.co/) on the internet or just [send me](https://queermccoy.tumblr.com/ask) an ask with a number (1-100) and an IT pairing and I'll whip up a fic based on the song that corresponds with that number in my Year End Review.


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